Sunday, April 22, 2012 The pre-conference leadership event was aimed at developing techniques for working with various constituencies in advancing Internet evolution in a positive way. Among the planned topics of discussion were: Leading from the grassroots; unique traits of Internet leadership; identifying your personal leadership style; bringing attention to issues that are vital to the future of the Internet.

Details of the session:

“Everyone’s voice matters,” with these words Allen Gunn “Gunner,” the executive director of Aspiration, started the Collaborative Leadership Exchange at the Global INET 2012 conference.

To prove this point the 60 or so participants started the session by introducing themselves, stating where they are from and in one word saying how they feel. Included were some veteran leaders of the Internet Society (ISOC).

“I must say I am of a generation where I learned to use the Internet, but I still believe there is a strong value of seeing people face-to-face,” said Walda Roseman, COO of ISOC. “When I am among you I am reminded what we are all about here. What we are all about is bringing the world together through the Internet, through interaction, through connection and through a shared sense of mission.”

This session was aimed at helping participants to grow to be much more than just basic users, consumers of the Internet, to assist and inspire them in becoming Internet creators, and to create a place to share dialogue between people who have the same interest and passion.

“What I think we have an opportunity to do here is to prove to each other that we are of the same community,” Roseman said. “We see differences where we are, but we want to break down the walls and build unbroken connections.” She added she hoped the session would help participants create a network for the mission of advancing the Internet.

“What I definitely look for is more connections and people who have opinions that are different from mine,” said Michael Bach, director of corporate Internet technology governance at Siemens and a participant at the session.

While session leader Gunn presented a brief agenda at the start, he said he left most of it unscripted so that the session could be scripted by the passion of the room - the "unconference" format. The only guidelines presented were those of a spirit of respect and inclusion for the room.

“The currency of today is questions,” Gunn said.

The first activity was created to spark debate. Panelists were required to make a short statement about the Internet and then participants were required to indicate whether they agree, disagree or are somewhere in the middle. They did so by standing in a particular spot in the room to indicate their "vote."

The different opinions in the room were represented with the people’s reaction the very first statement: We need regulation in the Internet.

“I think regulation stifles creativity,” said one participant.

This remark was quickly followed by a differing opinion.

“If you want to foster creativity, you have to foster how to diffuse creativity,” said another participant.

The other statements discussed to spark further debate were:

New gTLDs will cause confusion for Internet users.

The cloud is safe.

Piracy acts are confusing and scaring Internet users.

Stability is more important than freedom.

The Internet Society is the only independent organization to come to and learn to be trained on IPv6.

Every country should have a national, non-governmental body to govern the Internet.

When one workshop participant said stability is more important than freedom, all but three of the participants disagreed. “I am Egyptian, and I now feel more stable, more secure and more free,” said one.

The participants created the agenda for the rest of the session with all of the attendees coming up with topics they wanted to be discuss during breakout sessions. Everyone was asked to take part in a "mosh pit of the minds" where they were able to read and organize all of the ideas.

Attendees picked themes for the breakout sessions and an attendee led each session. The earliest breakout session themes were: digital preservation, privacy, development responsibilities, ISOC chapter roles, IPv6 and the next generation and strategic listening.

The later breakout sessions include: E-learning, women in ICT, critical Internet resources, the definition of the Internet, the digital divide, business models for free media content, the DNS system and blocking Internet copy.

“People have to start thinking about themselves as change agents and I think this kind of session that fosters this and makes people come up with their own opinions is important,” Bach said.

Roseman told the participants their responses will inform what those at the Internet Society do. With participants from all over the world including Pakistan, Romania, Turkey, Thailand, Senegal and New Zealand discussing the Internet, the conversation will be felt beyond any one organization.